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WhatsApp backpedals on account limiting if you don’t accept its new privacy policy

By Ken Wong - on 5 Jun 2021, 11:09am

WhatsApp backpedals on account limiting if you don’t accept its new privacy policy

Note: This article was first published on 31 May 2021.

No announcement on the length of the grace period was given though. Image courtesy of Unsplash.

Adding fuel to an already confusing situation about changes to their privacy policy, WhatsApp released a blog post saying that they would no longer be limiting the functionality of its app for users who haven’t signed onto the new privacy policy.

The new privacy policy went live on 15 May. However, WhatsApp recently changed its earlier security post to say that rather than limiting users accounts, they would now instead be displaying a notification in WhatsApp that provides more information on the update and reminding those who haven’t had a chance to do so to review and accept it.

Or as they put it:

We currently have no plans for these reminders to become persistent and to limit the functionality of the app. There will also be other opportunities for those who haven’t accepted the updates to do so directly in the app. For example, when someone reregisters for WhatsApp or if someone wants to use a feature that's related to this update for the first time.

The announcement of Whatsapp's planned policy change saw a flood of protests from users, privacy groups, and governments. Competing messaging apps like Telegram also saw an uptick in new users.

While there are no guarantees that this will not change in the future, it looks as though for now at least, the big bad tech company has listened to the cries of their users.

 

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